Lone Canary Winery

A visit to Lone Canary Winery is an exercise in learning to say “red” in three different languages: red, rosso, and rouge. But by any other name, a big red would taste just as good. WineTrails trekkers can find Lone Canary in the unassuming Scott-Pacific Business Park just east of downtown Spokane. The winery is a fairly bare-bones operation, but it features great signage and wine labels adorned with its distinguished Lone Canary logo: an artistic rendering of Washington's state bird, the American goldfinch, or wild canary. Forging a lone and exciting path using Washington's exemplary fruit, Lone Canary Winery has chosen to stand apart from the flock through “unique artistic expression” in its wines.

Mike Scott, winemaker and co-owner, cut his teeth at Caterina Winery, where he excelled creating sauvignon blanc. Of course no visit to Lone Canary Winery is complete without a sample of its sauvignon blanc, with its tropical fruit flavors, sweetness, and notes of clove. It makes a perfect pairing with pecan-encrusted halibut and grilled asparagus. As the winery’s website points out, Mike Scott has a long-running love affair with sauvignon blanc. But with Lone Canary, Mike Scott has been unleashed to develop some big reds and has done so with the signature blends of “Red,” “Rosso,” and “Rouge.” “Red,” an American-style red blend, is a perfect complement to barbequed burgers or London broil over a bed of greens. Whereas “Rouge” highlights a Bordeaux-style blend, the Tuscan-style “Rosso” features sangiovese in combination with merlot and cabernet sauvignon. Also noteworthy is the DuBrul Vineyard Reserve, which comes with a $5 tasting fee but is applied to the purchase price. I walked out with a bottle.

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  Lone Canary Winery was featured in WineTrails of Washington as part of the Spokane Valley-Kettle Falls WineTrail on page 552!